Gripping-latch.



. E. ERICKSON a IP. SJOSTRUM.

GBPPING LATCH. i APPLmATIoN FILED P1113.; 1914.

Patented Jan. 5, 19H5.

a SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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EDWARD naronsoiq Amo rn'rnn saosfreon, or nennen', MASSACHUSETTS, .Assronons' or cnn-'mien ro Winnen L. Mon-arson, or Mnnnosn, nessaonnsnrrs.

enirrinemnron.

Specoaton of Letters atent. I

rammed aan. 5,1915.

Application led February 2, 1914. Serial No. 815,976.

Be it Vknown that We, EDWARD ERICKSON and PETER Saosrnor, subjects, respectively. of the Czar of Russia and the King of Sweden, and residents of Malden, 'in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gripping-Latches, of which the olioiving is a specification.

This invention relates to fastenings especially designed for doors, such as automobile doors, although the invention is not limited to such specilic use.

One or' the objectsl of the invention.. is to provide an improved structure oi' latch which will' be noiseless in' operation, 'there being no possibility of any clicking.

Another obj ect is to provide a latch Which can be'readily released Without requiring the expenditure of much strength.

Another object is to 'provide a device of this character upon which articles of Wearing apparel may not become caught..

lVith this and other objects'uin view our invention' consists in the improvements which ive Will proceed to describe and claim.

11n the accompanying drawings -which illustrate our invention in twoembodiments, Figure-1 is an elevation of the tWo members of the latch unsupported by any doorwor casing structure, the tivo members being separated to render the illustration clearer; Fig. 2v is a. view or" the members shown in Fig. 1, looking from above, the two membersl being` connected as when a door is Jastened; Fig. 3 represents a sect-ion on line 3-3 ofjFig. 1; Fig. el represents a section on line 4-/1 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 represents a seotionfon line 5*-5 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows, thereby showing the tongue lmember in elevation; Fig. 6 represents an elevation of another embodiment of the keeper member; Fig. 7 represents a section on line 77 of Fig. 6; and Fig. 8 represents a detail section on line 8--8 of Fig. 6.'

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive,

' in which similar reference characters represent similar parts in all of the views, the casing 12 of thekeeper member is provided with a face platev 13 and has a chamber or recess 14 (Fig. 4) which contains most of the mechanism of said member. It is to be understood that the casing 12 is intended to be fitted in a suitably'rabbeted portion of a door casing.

In the particular einboCliment of the inventionl illustrated in Figs. 1 to i3, the devine is intended for the door of afl.. iutomobile, in. which case the casing" 12 ieiitted in a rabbeted portion of the bodyfof the vehicle at one sideof the door opening, at such eievation as may be desiredvith the operatingrod or spindle 27 (which may be of'any length) extending up tothetop of the-door..

casing. AS explained hereinafter, this member might', if desired, .be carried by the door instead of by the frame or casing.,

One end of the chamber or recess 14; is formed by a lWall 15, which istli-e kbinding, wall, as hereinafter explained, said wall having a curved portionv 16A to facilitate the entrance of the tongue hereinafter described. Mounted inthe chamber or recess 14; is a carrier or-lever 17', pivoted as at 18, and normally held substantially inthe position indicated in Fig. 4f', by a suitable spring such as shown at 19. Anyfsuitable portions of the parts may be employed to serve as stops to cause the spring 19" to 'hold the lever 17, substantially as explained.. y

The leve'lrlv is formed or provided with lugs 2O having elongated slots or recesses 21 for a hardened, steel roller binder 22,

said roller being loosely mounted `:for theA purpose presently explained. A

Between the lugs 2O the endbfthe lever 17 is formed with an inclined face 23 upon which the roller 22 may roll. The other end of the lever is 4formed with a heel or rib 24 which is engaged by -a lug 25 projecting from a collar 26 secured to an operating rod or shaft or spindle 27 mounted inthe casing 12, the end of saidvrod or Spindle having a suitable handle 28 1whereby the said spindle may be operated to cause the lug 25 to aot upon the heel 24 of the lever 17, to shift the latter in a direction which compresses the spring 19, to thereby increase the distance between the roller 22 and the opposite binding wall 15 of the casing.

The casing 29 of the tongue vinember is" I keeper member hereinbeore described. Said casing is f ormed with projecting, portions 3G, 31, which act to guard thetonguew,

the shank 33 of which is mounted't'c slide in come warped so that the tongue would not' '1o accurately enter the keeper member, .the tongue. will yield laterally, or in .other words, in the direction of the length of its shank, so that the` tongue will be vproperly engaged by the grippers of the keeper member. y

-In order that the two members will propf erly come together in 'case the door should sag somewhat lor become raised above its initially placed position, the upper and lower guard members 31 (see Fig. 5) are preferably formed with inclined hfaces 38.

We employ the Yterms tongue and keeper for purposes ofexplanation only and not with any intent to limit the invention. Either member may 'be carried by the door and then,'of course, the other member would be carried by the door casing.

. Assuming that the two members shown in Fig. 1 are so .mounted that the body Aof an automobile has the casing 12 secured in a 'rabbeted portion thereof, with the. handle 28 above, pr perhaps slightly within a cut awayportion of the automobile body, and with the casing 29 secured in a suitably rabbeted portion of the automobile door. When the door is closed the tongue 82 oc-- cupies the position clearly illustrated by dotted lines in Fig, 2, said tongue being slightly, frictionally gripped between the roller binder 22 and the binding `wall 15.

- The spring 19 has a'Y constant tendency to keep the lever or roller carrier 17 in such position thatthe friction gripvwill be retained. This is because the angle of inclination or" the face 23 is lsuch that the roller 22 is wedged between said face 23 and the outer face of tongue`32, the opposite face o'fvtonguc 32 being jammed against the cas#v ing wall 15. This grip can be easily re# leased, however, by operating the handle 2S ard the spindle 27 so that the lug 25 will operate the heel of the roller carriernor lever to shift the latter in opposition to the spring 1.9, thus instantly releasing fthe tongue. After' the door has been opened and it has to be again closed, the movement of the parts relatively to each other will be understood by referring to Figs. 3 and 4, :such movement being to cause the tongue 32 to enter between the roller 22 and the binding wall 15, which will cause the tongue 32 to rotate easily and practically noiselessly to automatically locked position. In

order to secure a positively locked position, i

it is not necessary that the door should be closed with a bang. In' other words the door need not be caused to fit tightly to its seat,'to result in binding or locking of the tongue 32. AThis is because the tongue 32 will be locked regardless of whatever portion of its length is vgripped between the roller' 22 and' the binding Wall l5.

Referring now to Figs. 6, .7 and 8, the casing 4l of the keeper member has a face plate 42 and` is provided with a chamber or recess 43, one wall ofwhich presents a binding surface at 44. In the chamber or recess is mounted a carrier or lever 45, pivoted as at 46, and held in normal position by a spring 47. One end of the pivoted carrier or lever 45 is provided with lugs48 having elongated recesses or slots 49' which loosely support the roller binder 50 in juxtaposition to the inclined face 51- of thev lever 45.

The other -end of the lever 45 carries a roll 52,

whichis actuated by a cam 53, carriedl-vby a spindle 54, mounted in the casing 4%?1 and having a suitable handle or knob 55. This form of device is more suitable forl ordinary doors in buildings. The cam 53 is pro'- vided with a radial ear 6l carrying a pin` A56 which passes through an are slot 47 in the casing into the path of a'pin 58 (Fig.

8) mounted in a chamber,59 in the casing, and heldagainst the pin 56 by a spring 60 in said chamber. With this structure of keeper member that illustrated in Fig. 3 will be employed, the only difference being that the casing of the tongue member must be so constructed as not to interfere withjthecasing of the just described, a tongue member similar to.

keeper membei.- The operation of the binding roller and its pivoted carrier shown in Figs. 6 and 7 is, of course, they same asthat employedA in the irststructure described.

knob or handle 55 1n its inactive position, with the cam so' located as not to interfere with the lever 45 remaining in position to cause the roller binder 50 to automatically grip a tongue member Lthat is inserted be- `The spring v60v serves to normally hold the tween'the ro'ller 50 and the binding wall 44.

By rotating the knb, however, in adirection to compress the spring 60, the cam 53 acts upon the lever 45 to swing the latter 'and increase the space between the roller l50 and the wall 44, so as to release the tongue 'member that has been gripped therebetween.

Nhat we claim is: l 1. A device' of the character described, comprising a tongue member, andra keeper member provided with coperating grippers to clamp the tongue member, one of said grippers being piyotally mounted and yeX` tending from` its .pivot in a directionnearly at a right angle to one side of the tongue member to exert a direct thrust 'against said side of the tongue memberto resist-"withdrawal of the latter. i

' ing a projecting member provided With longitudinally extended faces -to be: clamped by said rippers. Y

3. A oor catch comprising two members f one of which has frictionel grippers, the

other having'a projection tov be engaged by said grippers, and igfuerd devicesxto prevent said projection om catching clothing. f i

4f. A door catch comprising a tongue member and a keeper member, the keeper 7 member having a movable roller and a fixed Wall 'spaced from the roller to admit the tongue member, said roller being movable in a direction to grip the tongue member with a Wedging action.

5. A door catch comprising a keeper member having a fixed Wall and a movable carrier having e roller spaced from said Well, and a tongue member to be gripped between seid rolle;l and Wall.

6. A door catch comprising e. keeper by said grippers, the tongue being yieldingly movable laterally.

S. A. device of the character described,l having :i tongue member provided with sub stantially flat parallel faces, and a keeper member having n fixed jaw and a. lrelatively movable jaw to frictionally grip said faces of the tongue member in any position lengthwise of the tonguemember.

n testimonyvvvhereof We have affixed our signatures,in presence of two Witnesses. 3

. EDWARD -ERICKSON v PETER SJOSTROM. "Witnesses:

' A..l HARRISON,

F. P. DALY, 

